How we verified this
We don’t run generation tests, we read the fine print. For Midjourney we read the free tier’s own terms, its commercial-use, watermark and attribution rules, then confirmed the cheapest plan that lifts them against the official pricing page, cross-checked across multiple current sources. The watermark and license clauses below are paraphrased from those terms, and the quality score is our editorial read of the tool, not a lab benchmark. Everything here was last verified June 13, 2026.
Watermark & licensing, the part that decides monetization
Why the free plan fails: Midjourney has no standing free tier (free trials are intermittent and usually disabled), so you generally must subscribe before you can generate or monetize anything.
Watermark
Midjourney does not stamp a visible watermark or brand mark on outputs, and no attribution is required, so finished images are publishable as-is. The catch is not a watermark but visibility: by default your generations are publicly viewable and remixable by others. Privacy (Stealth mode) is locked to the Pro and Mega plans.
License
There is no free tier, so commercial use is a paid-plan question. Any paid subscriber owns the assets they create and keeps them after canceling. However, you grant Midjourney a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, sublicensable, irrevocable license over your inputs and outputs, and any company grossing over $1,000,000/yr must be on Pro or Mega to own its assets.
“You own all Assets You create with the Services to the fullest extent possible under applicable law.”
Pros & cons
Pros
- You own all images and videos you create, even after canceling
- No attribution or visible watermark on outputs
- Cheapest commercial plan is only $10/mo
- Best-in-class image quality for thumbnails and B-roll
Cons
- No free tier — you must pay to generate a single image
- On Basic/Standard your images are public and remixable by default
- Midjourney keeps a perpetual, irrevocable, sublicensable license over everything you make
- Companies grossing over $1M/yr must be on Pro or Mega to own outputs
Pricing, which plans are actually safe
| Plan | Price | What you get | Monetization |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $10/mo (or $96/yr billed yearly, ~$8/mo) | 3.3 fast GPU hr/mo, full ownership and commercial use | Safe |
| Standard | $30/mo (or $288/yr billed yearly, ~$24/mo) | 15 fast GPU hr/mo plus unlimited Relax image generations | Safe |
| Pro | $60/mo (or $576/yr billed yearly, ~$48/mo) | 30 fast GPU hr/mo, Stealth (private) mode, required for $1M+ companies | Safe |
| Mega | $120/mo (or $1,152/yr billed yearly, ~$96/mo) | 60 fast GPU hr/mo, Stealth mode, highest concurrency | Safe |
Affiliate link, commission costs you nothing and never changes a verdict.
Alternatives we’ve tested
Adobe Firefly Video7.8
AI video · Indemnified AI video clips
Free is near-zero volume and carries no IP indemnity, the protection you actually pay for
Dreamina7.9
AI video · ByteDance's Seedance generator
Watermark on free downloads, and the ToS limits free output to private, non-commercial use
Runway8.1
AI video · Gen-4 video generation + a creative editing suite
FAQ
Is there a free version of Midjourney?
Not reliably. Midjourney has no standing free tier; it occasionally enables limited free trials but they are usually disabled, so in practice you must subscribe (Basic from $10/mo) to generate.
Can I sell or monetize Midjourney images on YouTube?
Yes, if you have any paid plan. Midjourney's terms say you own all assets you create and can use them however you like, even after canceling. Companies grossing more than $1,000,000/yr must be on the Pro or Mega plan to own their assets.
Are my Midjourney images private?
Not on the cheaper plans. By default your content is publicly viewable and remixable by others. Private generation (Stealth mode) is only available on the Pro and Mega plans.